ABU ALI FARMIDI (He/Him)

CTS with 20+ years in Pro AV, specialising in secure, resilient, and human‑centric technology environments. With credentials including ISO 27001 Practitioner, CompTIA Security+, AVIXA CTS, and service on the AVIXA Standards Steering Committee, I bring a multidisciplinary perspective that spans security governance, systems engineering, AV risk, and operational resilience. I also serve as a Steering Committee Member for the AV User Group (London Chapter), supporting industry knowledge‑sharing, manufacturer engagement, and the advancement of best practice across enterprise AV and workplace technology. Across my career, I’ve delivered multi‑regional and global AV/UC deployments, designing and optimising secure collaboration ecosystems across Europe, North America, Africa, and APAC. My work spans Microsoft Teams environments, enterprise meeting rooms, hybrid working platforms, and high‑stakes spaces such as Boardrooms, AGMs, and multi‑site collaboration environments. I approach AI as a socio‑technical system — where risks emerge not only from algorithms, but from architecture, data flows, user behaviour, and the integrated AV/UC environments that shape real‑world experience. I am now expanding my leadership into AI governance and responsible technology, developing capability in ISO/IEC 42001 (AIMS) and the NIST AI RMF to help organisations operationalise AI safely, ethically, and at scale — particularly within AV, workplace, and smart‑building systems.

With over 20 years in the audiovisual industry, Leon Prather has worked extensively in both the technical and creative sides of AV. You can find him writing about topics like product management, entertainment technology news, and whatever geeky notion catches his attention today. Recently, he was named to Commercial Integrator's 40 Influencers Under 40 list for 2025. https://www.leonprather.com

Experienced audio engineer with a long history of working in the live sound environment. From concerts, festivals and corporate events all the way to travel and tourism industry. Now moving into system design, system integration and maintenance.

Started as a roadie in the early 90s pushing boxes and setting up sound systems, then into recording studios in the mid 90s, and finally corporate AV in 2008. Since then I have designed, installed, operated and maintained AV systems in offices, arenas, hotels, churches, pubs, schools and outdoors.